[UntoHim]

Drake,
Once again your post is a dodge of biblical proportions. It is becoming increasingly clear that either you don't have much first hand knowledge and experience of the same Local Church we are speaking of, or you have been walking around in a coma for 40 years. Of course there are other alternatives, but I would not like to think that a Christian brother would resort to that kind of deception on a public forum. (and I think you're quite right, by the way, about God will judge us for what we write on this forum)

Originally Posted by Drake

However, I do not believe that God is walking around with a stick to whack us...

Good point. So why did Witness Lee and many of his hand-picked elders/ministry leaders feel it so necessary to create such an atmosphere of abject fear of a man and the religion he invented? I mean, I never heard of someone fearing a dreadful death or accident if they spoke against Chuck Smith or left Calvary Chapel for another church. When's the last time you heard a member of Saddleback church say they had a fear of getting cancer if they didn't buy copious copies of A Purpose Driven Life, or spoke even the slightest criticism of Rick Warren...or God help them if they stopped attending Saddleback.

Perhaps in seeking an explanation for tragic events one gravitates towards those that include purpose because the purely random or incidental seems otherwise senseless.

If I didn't know you I would think this is one of the coldest and heartless things ever written on our little forum. For the time being, I'll just take into consideration that my first paragraph here is accurate. No Drake, we didn't have to seek for any explanations...the explanations were given in not-so-veiled insinuations and hardly subtle references to what would befall a Local Churcher who strayed from "The Lord's Recovery." This kind of cultic atmosphere was not uncommon or limited to those of us in Orange County near the headquarters on Ball Road. It was movement-wide because Witness Lee's influence was obviously movement-wide.

This matter of "Outer Darkness" is not a simple teaching or "doctrine" in the Local Church of Witness Lee. It is part and parcel of a larger system of error. It is impossible to take this teaching and discuss it apart from the entire gambit of the teachings, practices and history. I know that current LC members find it convenient to attempt to steer the discussion in a direction which diverts attention away from the realities that were, and now are, faced by followers of Witness Lee. So, steer away fellows...but don't expect to have much success around here.
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